1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to reclamation of the base component materials of carpet, through a machine process that disintegrates, separates and segregates carpet into it base component materials.
2. Description of Prior Art
Over 800 million square yards of carpet are manufactured in the United States each year, a large and increasing percentage of which is installed to replace carpet in commercial buildings and homes. A tremendous amount of the carpet being replaced is discarded in landfills, adding to our waste disposal problem, and further burdening our environment.
At present, a small portion of removed carpet is being reclaimed, primarily by one of two means: (1) hot-wire skimming the nylon pile from the surface of carpet; and (2) mechanically grinding carpet into a heterogeneous mixture of secondary and primary backing, latex binder and pile, which produces an amalgam of limited utility.
After diligent search (see enclosed Information Disclosure Form) no prior art has been discovered, not is any reference made, to any process or apparatus designed to effect the debonding and separation of carpet into its base component materials.
The "Carpet Reclaimer" meets this need, through a process and apparatus that breaks down the bonding elements in carpet, and separates and segregates carpet into its base component materials, each of which is a reusable resource.